The Mirror Man by Jane Gilmartin

Author:Jane Gilmartin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MIRA Books
Published: 2020-04-14T13:30:01+00:00

Chapter 23

Days 113-127

A few days later, Jeremiah and Dr. Young took the Meld again. She was silent as she prepared for it, bringing in the two syringes on a metal tray and making sure to lock the door to the office to guard against someone else coming in and contaminating the connection. But no one had ever come into the office in all the times Jeremiah had been here. He sat sullenly and waited for the needle and hoped he’d be able to hide his secrets. The more he knew, the more he feared the Meld.

There was a momentary jolt immediately following the injection and Jeremiah was hit with a vivid sense of being in water. The impression was so real that it completely threw off his equilibrium, as though he were instantly not on solid ground. He kicked his feet and had to catch himself to keep from falling off the chair. His breath caught in his chest. The sensation was real enough that he could almost taste the salt from the ocean on the tip of his tongue and lifted a hand to shield his eyes from the sun glinting off the waves.

“I’m sorry,” he heard Dr. Young say from very far away. “My mind wandered. I’m just thinking about a trip to Jamaica last year. Focus on the light.”

An hour or more seemed to pass in a few minutes. Before he knew it, he was fully aware of his surroundings again, the effects of the drug completely gone from his mind. The memory of what he’d seen was hazy, half-remembered and retreating fast.

“Well?” he asked. “What did you see?” He hoped he didn’t sound as nervous as he felt.

“I do detect some change in you,” she said, and a fleeting look of perplexity crossed her face. “There’s something a little bit more, I don’t know, settled. You aren’t as meticulous with your responses to stimuli. I sense more instinct...something different.”

“Is that bad?”

“Not necessarily,” she told him. “But it is a change, and that could be important to the experiment. I also sense a marked increase in your emotional depth, but I think that’s to be expected after the loss of a loved one. A lot of it may be perfectly normal reflection, a period of introspection. That is actually a useful coping mechanism. It means you’re working out your grief in a healthy way. I’m glad to see it, but...” She paused in a manner that made Jeremiah suddenly uncomfortable.

“Was there something else?”

“I’m not sure,” she said, and leaned in to look him hard in the eyes. “Jeremiah, are you absolutely certain there’s no suspicion at home? No one who might be questioning the clone’s authenticity?”

Oh, shit, he thought. Had he let his mind wander? Had she detected thoughts of his mother? Of the emails he’d read? Of Louie? He’d tried to be so careful, but there was no telling what he’d been thinking about under the Meld. If he’d thought about these things for even a moment.

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